The Cape Breton Spectator would be a shadow of itself were it not for the work of its regular contributors, each of whom writes with such clarity and focus and passion that reading, editing and formatting their work counts among the best parts of my job. I can’t thank themRead More

Great ideas to address climate change already exist — there are thousands of them — but they need to be categorized by the degree of impact they would have on climate change mitigation. Luckily, some authors have attempted this categorization. Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse GlobalRead More

During this week’s federal leaders’ debates, all participants verified they had worked together in a non-partisan way to battle COVID-19. COVID and its variants do not discriminate — everyone is vulnerable to some degree. And Canadians, because we were all at risk, pulled together in a way that mirrored whatRead More

Editor’s Note: Spectator contributor Paul Strome sent along this open letter to candidates in the upcoming provincial elections, presented as a list of his chief concerns.   Reconciliation and the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are not just federal issues. Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and GirlsRead More

Canada is the only G7 country still emitting GHG emissions way above 1990 levels — 21% above. Compare that to the US, which is on par with its 1990 levels, the 27 EU countries that are 25% below their 1990 levels or the UK, whose emissions are 42% below 1990Read More

Something the vast majority of Canadians don’t seem to realize is that we, as citizens, are on the hook for cleaning up billions (if not trillions) of dollars’ worth of environmental waste across the country. Industries continue dumping their waste into the laps of citizens, who are completely unaware ofRead More

Most people on the planet are trying to make a living one way or another. We all need the essentials of life and they all come from Mother Earth — food, clothing and shelter. Our current geologic time period has been called the Anthropocene because it is the age duringRead...

It took public pressure to get the Lahey Report (“An Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia“) off the ground but once completed, it contained summaries like this one: My conclusion is that ecological forestry must be pursued on Crown and private lands with a combination of tools thatRead More

For thousands of years, the diverse marine life in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence prospered as the waters of the Atlantic Ocean mixed with those of the Gulf. The ebb and flow of huge volumes of salt water brought food and myriad whales, fish, lobster, crabRead More

Most people who live in a ‘free country’ like Canada believe they have the right to a healthy environment. We feel we are entitled to all that is imbedded in that philosophy — clean water, fresh air, healthy food, etc. Those of us who live in a rural setting (18%Read More